Song Review: LOCASH, “Ring On Every Finger”

If LOCASH proves anything with “Ring On Every Finger,” it’s that if you keep setting your expectations low enough, eventually you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I’ve been unimpressed with the output of the rebranded LoCash Cowboys thus far: “I Love This Life” is a checklist song with some of the laziest songwriting I’ve ever heard, and “I Know Somebody” is a by-the-numbers Bro-Country track that does nothing to stand out from the crowd. I went into “Ring On Every Finger” expecting very little, and while that’s mostly what I got, there were some modest surprises buried in the track.

The production…well, that wasn’t one of the surprises. LOCASH tends to rely on pop-sounding guitars and synthetic beats for their sound, and that’s pretty much what you get here. The music seems a bit dark and serious compared to its subject matter, and uses way more minor keys than a supposedly-happy song should.

I’m not sure which member of LOCASH is handling the lead vocals here (Chris Lucas is called the lead singer here, for whatever that’s worth), but whoever it is doesn’t get much of a chance to shine. The song keeps the singer constrained to a narrow range, to the point of making them sound monotonic most of the time. (The fact that the production drowns the singer in vocal effects doesn’t help either.) There are flashes of talent here (the few falsetto notes here are impressive), but the hard to get a feel for the singer’s skill level when the song keeps them from displaying it.

So where exactly did the song exceed my expectations? Well, the lyrics and themes are a huge step up from LOCASH’s previous work. (Apparently someone made the wise decision of not letting LOCASH’s Lucas and Preston Brust write their own material, as they tried to do on the awful “I Love This Life.” ) The song minimizes the “girl” references that plague most songs like this, and actually includes some clever lines like “I ain’t gettin’ down on one knee, girl I’m gettin’ on two,” and “dropping f-bombs like ‘forever.'” The song also avoids objectifying the object of the singer’s affection, and instead revolves around a simple marriage proposal that indicates the singer actually values the girl beyond the shape of her booty. The stronger writing here makes a big difference, and makes the rest of the song’s underwhelming package a little easier to swallow.

Overall, “Ring On Every Finger” is a baby step forward for LOCASH, although it’s still a long way from a great (or even good) song. Still, progress has to start somewhere, so let’s hope LOCASH makes this a trend and forces us to adjust our expectations accordingly.

I wouldn’t object to this song doing well-like I said, I think it’s the best single they’ve released thus far.

That said:
-It’s been on the Mediabase charts for 20 weeks and still hasn’t made the Top 30 (and it’s even lower on Billboard),
-It’s the only song below the Top 30 on Mediabase that *lost* airplay last week, and
-It’s got some stiff competition coming up behind it (Maren Morris and Dustin Lynch on Billboard, Drake White on Mediabase).

If this song’s going to be a hit, it had better hurry up and start moving.